Leadovation Dr. Laura Gallaher: Columbia Space Shuttle Tragedy: Lessons and Applications in Your Organizations
About Dr. Laura Gallaher:
Dr. Laura Gallaher is a professional speaker and organizational psychologist who inspires driven self-starters to transform their relationship with themselves and accomplish more than ever. She combines insights on radical self-acceptance with humor to create a unique connection with her audience. Despite being a national best-selling author, Dr. Laura stands out from the typical "academic" personality of her PhD peers. Her notable achievements include being hired by NASA to reshape organizational culture after the Columbia accident, leading significant changes in performance management at Disney, and inspiring Yahoo’s global teams to pursue transformation from within.
In this episode, Dean Newlund and Dr. Laura Gallaher discuss:
- NASA’s organizational culture and its role in major space disasters
- The importance of psychological safety in high-stakes environments
- The conflict between intuition and evidence-based decision-making
- Leadership blind spots, self-awareness, and radical self-acceptance
- Building trust, collaboration, and vulnerability within teams
Key Takeaways:
- NASA’s culture contributed to the Columbia tragedy by discouraging engineers from voicing concerns without hard data.
- Congress required NASA to undergo a culture change initiative before allowing shuttle flights to resume, embedding organizational development permanently at Kennedy Space Center.
- Dr. Laura’s personal 360-degree feedback revealed blind spots, such as unintentional “bullying intellectually,” which led her to embrace radical self-acceptance.
- Tools like collaboration contracts and vulnerability exercises helped leaders manage defensiveness, foster trust, and improve team dynamics.
"When you have higher self acceptance, it creates a path for others to do the same… because when you have high self acceptance, you can be vulnerable… but vulnerability is courageous, and courage is contagious.” — Dr. Laura Gallaher
Connect with Dr. Laura Gallaher:
Website: https://drlauragallaher.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-gallaher-phd
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drlauragallaher/
Discover Your Self-Acceptance Score: https://selfacceptancequiz.com/
See Dean’s TedTalk “Why Business Needs Intuition” here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEq9IYvgV7I
Connect with Dean:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgqRK8GC8jBIFYPmECUCMkw
Website: https://www.mfileadership.com/
The Mission Statement E-Newsletter: https://www.mfileadership.com/blog/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deannewlund/
X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/deannewlund
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MissionFacilitators/
Email: dean.newlund@mfileadership.com
Phone: 1-800-926-7370
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